Month: February 2007

Famous Reporter #34

The December issue of Famous Reporter is replete with wonderful haiku from some of Australia’s leading haiku poets. It contains 65 haiku over 11 pages, with a significant contribution from northern NSW haijin. In addition to this you will find John Bird’s prize-winning haiku sequence, ‘The Fence Rider, 1950 Australia’. This outstanding poem is in six parts, each part a sequence of seven haiku.

If you want to read haiku with a distinctive Australian flavour, Famous Reporter #34 is essential reading. $8 posted (within Australia) from Walleah Press, PO Box 368, North Hobart, TAS 7002 – or $15 for a subscription.

Here are some quotes from Christopher Bantick’s review of Spinifex: haiku by Beverley George in The Sunday Tasmanian(18/2/07):

‘it celebrates the strength and diversity of haiku as a poetry form’

‘The poems rest on the page like perfectly cut templates of experience’

‘Apart from the poems that will make readers stop and regard the world perhaps a little more thoughtfully, the design of the book also deserves comment. Besides the convenient size that’s ideal for handbags and pockets, the poems are not cluttered on the page…Reeves has presented the poems with a filigree of grass on the pages. This adds to the delicate feel of the book. The result is an excellent gallery of words and shape.’

‘hard to imagine a better example of the form’

‘a book of quiet contemplation and stolen moments of peace winnowed from busyness’

Book launch – haibun by Julie Beveridge

Small Change Press is proud to announce the launch of their first title for 2007, Home is where the Heartache is, a collection of haibun, by Julie Beveridge.

“Compressed energy and an unswerving courage to tell the truth about bad things gives these haibun a sharp edge – a kind of grim elegance. Journeying with Beveridge is not always comfortable but it is always compelling.”
Beverley George
President, Australian Haiku Society